Don't Let My Heart Freeze
by GoldWanderess
Summary: The scars on her left wrist was a reminder of how far she let herself fall. The tattoo on right her wrist is a reminder of how high she must rise. There is no place in this world for the weak. There is no place for forgiveness. Underneath it all, she's just a savage. Her cold heart can't be free.
1. Prologue: Who Is In Control?

Prologue:

 _15 years ago_

A searing pain erupted in her side. The warm trickle of blood dripped from under her rib cage down to her hip and slowly made it's way to her feet. The blade still embedded in her, slowing the blood flow, but leaving the pain everlasting with every breath she took. A painting of fresh cuts and wounds decorated her body. A large gash above her collarbone. Her left leg bent in an awkward angle. The skin on her calf was charred to the bone. Her shoulder had a gaping hole in it, a bullet waiting to be removed sat in the hole. She didn't blink, or move.

She was bare aside from the undergarments the academy provided her. Her tormentors stood in front of her, watching her every reaction like vultures, waiting for her to mess up. But she couldn't. She didn't want to feel the pain again. She couldn't feel the pain again. She'd break and then they would kill her. Maybe she would feel better if she died. She would feel the embrace of death and feel freedom. Maybe then she would be happy.

 _'_ _No!'_

She yelled at herself, she wasn't weak. She wasn't like her fellow trainees. They were weak. The cried when they were punched. They flinched when a foot went to their face. They were weak, and she would never be like them.

It was the 4th time she was in that room. Torture endurance training the headmistress called it. Every time she came back from that dark gray room riddled with blood she would hurt for days, only for her to return in a week.

The first time she cried out in pain. They didn't feed her for 3 days.

The second time she clenched her jaw and a tear fell down her cheek. They beat her to a bloody pulp that time.

The third time she blinked for a little to long. She was in the medical wing for 6 days

The fourth time she breathed normally, no sound coming from her throat, no tears escaping her eyes, no flinching or squirming. No blinking. She didn't react to hurting. She passed

She was no one.

* * *

 _13 years ago_

She was sitting with some of the other girls in the academy, murmuring amongst themselves as the watched the males run around chasing each other.

There were hardly any boys at the academy, but that wasn't surprising. They were weak according to the headmistress. She said that thought with her other head. She didn't know what the headmistress meant by that. What she did know what that boys were scared of girls, and those who weren't would do anything to get with a girl, the pretty girls at least. The headmistress said she was pretty. She said that pretty girls are stronger than other girls. She said that pretty girls could make a man do whatever she wanted. She said that a pretty girl was a dangerous girl.

It was no secret that the boys received different training than the girls. Instead of learning how to kill a person with a rope, they learnt how to hack into data frames. Instead of learning how to climb a building, they learned how to find information about a target. Instead of learning to rely on no one, they learn to rely on their betters; their female counterparts. They boys only purpose was to provide information about targets that the females would use and to provide back up to the females if something were to go wrong. They would also have to kill any of the females if they failed or turned traitor.

She never understood why males were considered weaker. They were so much stronger than her, taller than her, fitter than her. But then again, she was smarter, faster, and more cunning than the boys.

The headmistress said that the boys were nothing. The headmistress said that the girls were no one.

How could she be no one? She had a name. She was Thaelys Laen. She was 7. She had a favourite colour and a favourite number. She aged. She spoke. She trained. She killed.

A girl with a name couldn't be no one.

She didn't want to be no one.

* * *

 _10 years ago_

She screamed. She burned. She cried.

Her muscles were tearing themselves apart.

Her blood was burning her from the inside.

Her body was convulsing.

Stronger they said. They would make her stronger.

The headmistress grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

"It will be over soon. You will find your place in the world"

"I have no place in the world"

it took all the strength she had put she managed to gasp out her last words as her sight began dimming. She heard the headmistress reply before it all went black

"Exactly."

She wouldn't be no one.

* * *

 _8 years ago_

She looked down at the headmistress. Her eyes were glazed over, unblinking. She looked pale already. White as a sheet. She didn't move or make a sound even when she kicked the headmistress. Dead. Died from natural causes. Except it wasn't a natural cause. It wasn't a natural heart attack. It was forced upon the headmistress. Thaelys thought it was weird that the air she breathed could kill someone if injected into their bloodstream, which is what she did.

She didn't like it there. She didn't like killing her friends. She didn't like torturing random people for training. She didn't like the instructors. She didn't like the experiments and she definitely didn't like her mentor. The headmistress. She now knew not to form relationships. She now knew how to kill someone with just her body. She now knew what it felt like to be controlled, to be raped. She now knew what true pain felt like. She now knew what revenge felt like.

They had taken her away from her home. They killed her beautiful mother and happy father. The murdered her brother, his wife and their children. A girl of 3 and a boy of 8 months. They took her, when she was 6 and she spent 8 years learning how to kill with every weapon that every existed. They taught her how to fight using her arms, legs and body. She wasn't no on anyone.

She escaped her hell.

She left her only home.

She didn't know where she was.

She was safe.

She will endure.

She is some one.

* * *

 **A/N: Just to clear it up, this is well before she joined the Empire and Sith. The academy mentioned is a different academy from her home planet, not the Sith academy. The next chapter would start on Korriban at the start of the Sith Warrior Prologue. The next chapter will also be longer. Probably.**


	2. Are You Faux Real?

"Normal" = Ordinary Talking

 _'Italics'_ = Thaelys Thoughts

 _ **Bold Italics**_ = The Voice

* * *

She stepped off the shuttle ramp and turned her gaze towards the burning red sands of Korriban. There were secrets hidden well beneath those grains of red, secrets and mysteries. Underneath the copious amounts of sand, there were decayed bodies, perhaps ancient tombs and maybe even hidden knowledge. She would never know what remained unseen below. Nor would she ever want to know, somethings should stay hidden. Korriban made Thaelys wary. It's ambience of danger made her unsure of everything on this planet. She was only sure of one thing, the force on Korriban was an abyss of dark and brooding emotions. Loathing, revenge, lust and envy all bloomed throughout this planet. It strengthened her, fueled her, it made her feel like she was swimming in an ocean of darkness, but came at a price. It made her unbalanced. Since a young age, she was taught that her emotions would confuse her, weaken her, that they would turn her into a liability. But Thaelys thought they were wrong. They were wrong about everything. Thaelys didn't follow their rules anymore, they had no authority over her. She was now her own person. She was free from them. She made sure of that.

Thaelys turned slightly towards the soldiers accompanying her and them gave a nod and they returned the gesture before making their way back to the shuttle and continuing whatever mediocre task they had to do being forced to escort her to Korriban. She didn't look back as the shuttle took off behind her, making her darkish red hair whip viciously around her oval shaped face. Thaelys made a face as she tried and failed to successfully pull her hair out of her face. She was beginning to regret her decision of leaving her hair down.

Thaelys turned her gaze and onto the dark skinned man who was waiting ahead for her and evaluated him. He had short curly hair, once black now graying. He was of the average height and weight of a male. Despite his age of 57, he seemed to be cunning and reasonably strong. A mild threat. The Overseer named Tremel. Thaelys new master. As she walked towards him, Thaelys continued to evaluate him, weeding out his strengths and weaknesses. He favored his left leg but was clearly right handed based on the position of his lightsaber. His armoring told her that he was made to deal large amounts of damage however, that would cost him much of his protection and endurance. Thaelys deduced that he was mild threat but an easy target.

She took long, meaningful strides towards Tremel. Her back was straight, her shoulders were rolled back and head was at a slight tilt upwards. She refused to show Tremel any feebleness, any sort of submissiveness. She wouldn't let him know that her left thigh just recently healed from being stabbed through the bone, nor would she let him know that she temporarily couldn't hear anything from her left ear. The Overseer was her superior only in rank, and that was only ephemeral. Thaelys believed she was better than him skill wise. She was better than every acolyte and Sith on this god-forsaken shithole and she was somewhat right. She may not be able to out-duel other Sith, but she had the advantage of enhanced organs and senses. Not that anyone knew that.

Thaelys light steps echoed around the room Overseer Tremel was waiting for her in, an impatient frown resting upon his face. She didn't care about the fact Tremel was waiting for her. Thaelys was more worried about finding escape routes incase something went wrong. Something always went wrong. She knew that she could retreat and run back to the landing pad but that would be a dead end. She could jump off the landing pad and free fall onto the sands below and suffer minor injuries that would pose only a minor reduction in skills and abilities.

 _'Easy to deal with, not a smart idea though.'_

There was also a door behind the Overseer. It was a more logical, predictable exit. A quick hit to the Overseer's jugular would incapacitate him long enough for Thaelys to leave the compound through the door and onto the sands below. She would have to face other acolytes and creatures, but they could be easy to take out.

 _'It's too predictable but it's my best choice'_

Thaelys walked towards the Overseer and could clearly see the sign's of weariness and age. His face was embedded with wrinkles and stress lines. Maybe the overseer wasn't as good as he said he was…

"At last you've arrived. Good, good. There is much to do and every moment is critical." He had that familiar imperial accent but there was a slight lilt to his voice, he didn't sound overtly imperial.

"I am Overseer Tremel," She knows. "For decades, I've administered the trials that prove who is and who is not worthy to join the Sith Order." She also knows that. Thaelys was mildly offended that Tremel thought she would train under his guidance without learning something about him? She was taught to find out everything about her allies and enemies and all those in between. It's easier to kill someone you know everything about than to kill someone you know nothing about.

"The trials are a chance to weed out the weak. Those who face them either survive and become Sith or die."

 _'…What a lovely way to say welcome.'_

"I'll take the first option." Her accented voice rang out, asserting herself to be of Imperial descent although she wasn't.

 _' **Not that you ever had a choice.'**_

Thaelys stiffened slightly when she heard that voice. The voice of a woman long dead.

 _'She can't hurt me. She can't hurt me. She can't hurt me.'_ Thaelys kept repeating her mantra in her head to calm herself down. She forced her body to relax when the Overseer gave her a look of displeasure, coupled with a wave of repentance emitting out of him. He continued talking as if Thaelys never said a word.

"You are here and ahead of schedule because of me. I expect you to obey." A paltry frown ruined Thaelys stoic expression, however that lasted hardly more than a moment as she quickly reverted her face to its phlegmatic state. She didn't want the Overseer to get a read on her.

"You face your trials, you serve me, and I will make you the most powerful acolyte here."

"You had better be able to deliver that, Overseer."

"Leave your doubt at the door; there's no room for it in here, and no time to waste. The trials themselves are difficult enough, but they are hardly the greatest threat you are going to face." Thaelys visibly perked up at this. What could possibly be more of a threat than the death warrants that were the trials?

"There's an acolyte here named Vemrin. He is your enemy, and he will try to kill you. We must prepare you."

"Let him try, I'll destroy him." Thaelys sounded overtly malicious, which was rather unusual for her.

 _'I must've been spending too much time Thana."_

"With my guidance, someday you'll destroy all your enemies. That practice sword you've arrived with is insufficient; the blade of lesser acolytes. You need a dominating weapon." Thaelys arched an eyebrow at Tremel.

"In the tomb of Ajunta Pall, there is an old armory. A strong Sith warblade awaits you there."

'A warblade does seem to be the more ideal weapon, it would be an improvement compared to the training sword I'm equipped with. The training swords handle was oddly shaped and unevenly weighted whilst the actual blade itself did not cut through anything easily. The blade was blunt and unfeasible.'

"The tomb is thick with k'lor'slugs; deadly, savage creatures. Be speedy but careful. They've been the end of many an acolyte."

"Just tell me where this tomb is." Thaelys knew she was wasting valuable time listening to this Overseer talk. He had nothing interesting to say nor did he say anything to make her respect him.

"The tomb is a short distance away when you leave this compound. Follow the trail of bodies and you'll reach the tomb," A frown graced her face once again. It was hardly a proper set of instructions.

"Once you acquire the warblade, I suggest you spend sometime in the tomb bloodying it. Then come to me in my chambers at the academy." She gave him slight bow of the head before making her way to the doorway; the Overseer's eyes following her every move. A small commotion was in hearing range from outside the vicinity, five pairs of footsteps scampering out into the wilderness, most likely other acolytes. A sixth pair could be heard as the rushed out to catch up to the other acolytes. It was most likely a female judging by how quiet the footsteps were.

Thaelys turned around slightly. "Overseer,' she began, her voice laced with its natural elegant yet exorbitantly 'imperial' accent, "what of the consequences of your scheming. It is well known that no acolyte should rush their training."

"Leave the politics and intrigue to me Laen, focus on completing your trials." She narrowed my bright green eyes in distrust but continued to walk out of the compound and into the open deserts of Korriban.

The burning sun glared down on Thaelys, temporarily blinding her. Within a few moments, she was able to see without the sun inconveniencing her. The overseer was right when he said follow the bodies. Laying in front of me a short distance away from the soldiers stationed here was a trail of slugs carcasses and decomposing, half eaten acolytes. Thaelys scrunched her nose up in disgust before gingerly stepping over the corpses and made her way towards the tomb.

After a short while of walking, Thaelys stood facing the entrance of Ajunta Pall's tomb. Ajunta Pall was a Dark Jedi alive during and after the events of the Hundred-Year Darkness; a war started by Pall who fought against the Jedi. When he and his followers lost the war, they were banished from the Galactic Republic and during their exile they discovered Korriban as well as the planet's natives, the Sith species. After overthrowing the Sith king and assassinating him, Pall was hailed by the Sith species as the Dark Lord of the Sith and with his newfound power, he inaugurated the Empire Thaelys lived in served in. Despite creating the Empire, Ajunta Pall was not one of the most well known Sith out there. Strange, you'd think the founder of the Empire would be well known amongst all of its subjects.

She entered the tomb and the second her foot touched the temple floor, a salient scent assaulted her senses. The corners of her eyes watered slightly at the stench of rot and feces. Although this is a tomb of one of the most important Sith, it was abhorrent and repugnant. She vowed that she would not spend more than 10 minutes in this tomb provided that others do not distract me. Continuing down the hallways of the tomb, Thaelys reach an opening of sorts, undoubtedly one of the main rooms in this crypt. Two sith Instructors stood ahead, looking as extensively languor. In addition to the Instructors, a squad of soldiers lay ahead looking ragged and distraught. Her eyebrows creased in deep thought as she pursed my lips. Thaelys wanted out of this tomb right now however the men looked like they're in need of some sort of assistance.

 _ **Nothing else but the target is important. Ignore everyone else.**_

Her blood ran cold. It's the second time I've heard her voice today. It normally wouldn't be perturbing but Thaelys haven't heard her voice in 2 years. Nevertheless, she wasn't here so she couldn't stop Thaelys. Distract her perhaps, but not slow her down.

Just to spite the voice in her head, Thaelys began to walk toward soldiers and made presence known.

"What seems to be the problem here Sergeant?"

"Nothing too serious m'lord," the Sergeant had the most cringe-worthy accent Thaelys ever heard. It was heavy with a brash lilt in it *,

"My men just had some minor problems setting off the detonators in the breeding chambers. We'll complete the mission soon m'lord" She turned her gaze onto his men and gave them once over. She raised an eyebrow in a cynical manner. Majority of the Sergeant's men were bruised and bleeding, one was even missing a limb.

"Yes, they were clearly **minor** problems. Why are there even detonators in what I presume to be the k'lor'slugs' the breeding chambers?" a distinct emphasis on 'minor' as it was quite obvious that their problems weren't as quite as insignificant as they said they were.

"You are right in presuming they are k'lor'slugs' breeding chambers. Vicious little critters, seen them tear apart men myself. I've been tasked with eradicating their numbers to a more manageable amount but it's been a difficult task m'lord. Those abominable beasts reproduce faster than we kill them. I sent half a squad down to the breeding chambers to take out the slugs before they were born but my men unfortunately died before setting off the charges." He stuck out his thumb in the general direction of his troops

"I tried to send out the other half of the squad but they were clearly injured and were forced to retreat."

"It's rather embarrassing that soldiers from the grand Imperial Military had to run away from some slightly oversized slugs." Thaelys remarked dryly. Some men looked down in shame whilst others gave a small chuckle before gripping their sides.

"Theoretically, if I were to go down into the breeding chambers, where would the detonator be?" She questioned… it was not what she wanted to say but she said it nevertheless.

"They are in the centre of a collection of eggs, my lord." A rather handsome looking trooper spoke up, inching forwards slightly. Thaelys averted her attention towards the man and was surprised by his appearance. He may have been on the slightly on the short side for a male but he was rather handsome and muscular. He had dark green eyes and short sandy blonde hair. A fitting long, thin nose and thin lips accented his somewhat long face. He was no model, but he was pleasing to look at.

"What's your name trooper and what can you tell me about the chambers?" She asked, not giving away the fact that she was checking him out.

"Ensign Corian Shye, my lord," He gave a bow from his waist "There are small but effective explosives placed in various points in the room. The detonator is the centre of the chamber and once activated, you would have a 10 second window to escape the chamber and avoid the 20 meter radius of the blast." Thaelys gave him a small subconscious nod and pondered over whether or not she should help the soldiers. Creating ties with the Imperial Military would be a good idea although it would be unnecessary to spend any more time in this tomb. She could sense, feel the anticipation emitting from the soldiers, it was obvious that they wanted her to complete the mission for them.

 _'Incompetent morons'_

Thaelys raised her head to face the Sergeant and gave him a firm nod.

"I'll detonate the explosives. Just point the way." A ripple of relief radiated from the soldiers.

"It's the last exit down that hallway m'lord." The Sergeant said, pointing in the direction of he hallway. She began to walk in the direction the Sergeant pointed to, her training saber held loosely in her right hand. It was her preferred hand although she was ambidextrous. She wasn't always ambidextrous; she was taught how to use both her hands. Thaelys couldn't even remember which hand she used to use naturally. Apparently, she was left-handed but her late mentor said everyone she trained with was left handed so she wasn't a trusted source. Her right hand was her preferred hand because it lack the old wounds on her left, and because there were swirls on ink decorating the inside of her wrist. A message to remind herself who she was and how far she can go.

Thaelys tightened her around the hilt of her training saber. The loud screeches of the slugs could be heard echoing throughout the hallways. They originated from right in front of her. She carefully and quietly inched her way in the breeding chamber, making sure not to step in a puddle of yellow gooey substances. There were explosives planted in various parts of the room with troopers lying unmoving beneath them. Dead. She didn't spare them a second glance as her sight zeroed in to the detonator. Without even looking, she threw a force push to her left, knocking back a matriarch k'lor'slug. She rushed towards the detonator and activated the explosives. A quiet but growing beeping sound was heard from the room and she turned tail and run. Vaulting over still living slugs and making her way back to the Sergeant.

The ground rumbled as the explosion took place well behind Thaelys, but that didn't stop the wave of heat rushing past her, pushing her hair back into her face. She spat whatever hair entered her mouth out and run fingers through her hair, starting at the top and making her way back. It would provide a temporary solution to her hair issue, until she got into another fight or running scene. She didn't even notice it but she had already made her way back to the troops.

"The breeding chamber is up in flames Sergeant."

"We heard the explosion m'lord. Thank you for helping us out." He said whilst every man behind him gave her a bow or respect and gratitude. Thaelys just nodded her head absentmindedly and continued to brush her hair out of her face vigorously. Out of seemingly nowhere, a hair tie popped into her line of vision, right in front of her eyes. Thaelys stopped brushing her hair to see one of the Sith Instructors holding a gray hair for her to grab. She quickly used the hair tie to bun her hair into a messy bun and muttered a thanks before walking off towards the armory.

There were tomb looters attempting to steal Sith relics up ahead of her. Without even thinking about it, Thaelys leapt towards them, slicing on of them in half as she landed. She turned around to deflect a volley of bolts fired at her before she cut the blaster in half and embedded the blade of training sword into the looter. Before she fully removed the sword from the looters gut, she gave a sidekick into the third looter, a somewhat attractive female human. As the women doubled over, Thaelys swung her sword in a wide vertical arc. A loud thud and squishing sound was heard as the sword cracked the woman skull and squashed her brain. Thaelys held the training sword up and frowned. There were bits and pieces of brain matter and bones stuck to the blade. She tried to shake some of it off, but she smaller pieces remained. Revolted by the idea of sheathing the sword on her back, she opted to hold the sword until she got her warblade.

Thaelys tried to avoid fights until she reached the armory. She didn't want more blood on her weapon. She walked down the stairs opposite of armory when a blur of red ran straight into her. Thaelys gracefully landed in a crouch position. Her assailant however, landed on her back and was rubbing her ass which, probably cushioned her fall. Purple eyes met green. Laying at her feet was a red-skinned twi'lek covered in black tattoos that coloured around her eyes black. The twi'lek studied Thaelys before saying the last thing Thaelys expected a Sith to say.

"First the incredibly dangerous tomb, second the insane hermit, and now there's an acolyte covered in crushed body parts crouched like a kowakian lizard monkey."

* * *

A/N: *The accent I was referring to was a Scottish accent. I personally don't mind the Scottish accent nor do I think it's cringe-worthy. Also you pronounce 'Thaelys Laen' as 'Th-A-Lees Lay-Hn'


	3. My Blood Is Burning

**A/N:**

"Normal" = Ordinary Talking

 _'Italics'_ = Thaelys' Thoughts

 _ **"Bold Italics"**_ = The Voice

* * *

Previously:

Laying at her feet was a red-skinned Twi'lek covered in black tattoos that coloured around her eyes. The Twi'lek studied Thaelys before saying the last thing Thaelys expected a Sith to say.

"First the incredibly dangerous tomb, second the insane hermit, and now there's an acolyte covered in crushed body parts crouched like a kowakian lizard monkey."

* * *

Thaelys stared at the Twi'lek with her mouth gaping open, confusion and shock clearly written all over her face. Insane hermit? Covered in crushed body parts? Crouched like a kowakian lizard monkey?

'Hold on, I do not crouch like a kowakian lizard monkey.'

She looked down and saw that she indeed was crouched like a monkey with her hands holding her steady on the floor whilst her knees pointed slightly outwards. She immediately stood up and dusted off her pants, embarrassed that she resembled an animal that pirates and gang leaders used to show off their wealth. The Twi'lek also stood, still rubbing her sore bottom and opened her mouth to say something before Thaelys held up her hand to shush the red-skinned alien. A long breath was sucked into Thaelys lung as she worked to remain calm instead of screeching on about how the Twi'lek should've been more careful. One, breathe. Two, breathe. Three, breathe. As Thaelys went to lecture the Twi'lek, the red female blurted a lot of exposition about herself.

"I suppose I could lower myself to apologise to you I however do not care nor will I. I've been here for no more than 30 minutes and already I had to deal with condescending, idiotic Overseers and pretentious, cocky acolytes who don't know the difference between left and right. Oh and how could I forget the 6 failed acolytes who decided the best way to get back into the Academy was by killing me and not to mention the unfair bias I receive because I'm a lowly alien who-"

"Do you ever shut up?" Thaelys interrupted, her voice sounding extra dry and bored.

"No, I like the sound of my voice too much." The Twi'lek answered, her nose pointed upwards in a snobbish manner.

"Of course you do. Instead of using me as your personal shrink, why don't you either move or tell me you name so I can kill you in your sleep?" Thaelys asked with too much sugar in her voice.

"It appears the brute knows how to have an actual personality and social skills. The name is Shiria Tiri, not at your service and not going to move." An intimidating glare glacial enough to make the Emperor cower away in fear was etched upon Thaelys face. Shiria however did not back down and met the glare with her own. What feels like hours passed and Thaelys broke out into a grin. She stuck her right hand and introduced herself,

"Thaelys Laen, not a brute and not going to murder you in your sleep." Shiria cautiously moved her hand towards Thaelys and shook it in a firm but uncertain handshake.

"Well, this was unexpected."

"Quite."

"Are you finished doing your trials in this tomb?"

"I have to go in the armory behind you before I'm finished."

"Well considering I'm the underdog in this academy and already have two dim-witted enemies, I offer you my help in an alliance. It should be an honour and you should feel privileged." Thaelys thin eyebrow rose slightly as she took in Shiria's self-obsessed personality.

"I don't feel honoured or privileged but I accept, you can wait or follow me into the armory." Without even looking back, Thaelys walked into the armory and made her observations of the room, Shiria following close behind, more cautious than her accomplice.

Thaelys eyes scanned the room and within six seconds she deducted that the only exit was the way she came in and that there were ten powered down droids on stand-by mode, ready to attack her if need be. Ignoring the droids, Thaelys approached the weapon rack and picked up one of the warblades left behind. It had a slightly better balance compared to her training saber and it was sharper at the tip and two of its edges. She wouldn't have to bash her opponent's skulls in anymore. She carelessly threw her training saber to the side and gave her new warblade a couple of twirls and wide arcs before moving back to where Shiria stood, who was looking bored and half asleep.

The moment Thaelys moved away from the weapons rack, the entire collection of once powered down droids restarted and whipped their weapons out. Their gazed was set towards the Human and Twi'lek and they began firing at their targets. Shiria barely managed to get her training sword out to deflect the bolts in time. On the other hand, Thaelys was already deflecting any bolts the came towards her before she leapt into battle with a low growl. Similarly to what she did to the tomb raider previously, she sliced the droid closest to her left's head off and continued blocking the bolts from the other 3 droids in that section of the armory. She took slow steps towards one of the droids, struggling to deflect all the bolts being fired at her. Shiria finally managed to collect herself and she fell into the increasing familiar sense of battle. Using the force, she flung the headless droid towards the droid closest to her, which was on her right. Both droids exploded in a small mess and Shiria ran towards the furthest droid on the right. She gave a small shower of lightning onto the droid and the smell of ozone filled the room, making the Twi'lek highly uncomfortable; she hated the smell of Sith lightning. The droid, now shocked, stopped firing and allowed Shiria to cut it in half with her sword whilst Thaelys embedded her warblade into the "eye" of the droid.

"Well that was a lovely team effort if I do say so myself." Shiria moved back to Thaelys, kicking over dismembered parts of droids.

"Let's just get out of here." So the two females walked out of the armory and made their way out of the tomb, occasionally disbanding small groups of raiders and other acolytes. They sometimes decided to sit down and give their legs a stretch and other times they'd like to inspect misplaced artifacts. By the time the girls felt the dry, warm wind on their face outside the tomb, their feet and had developed minor blisters and their legs ached and dragged along the sandy floors of the desert planet. Their shoulders sagged low and their back was bent in exhaustion. One's hair was stuck to her face and clotted whilst the other's lekku was a pale red much like how her face was. Both girls were covered in bruises and drenched in sweat and blood. A wide gash was visible on Shiria's stomach and she supported a black eye, Thaelys had a rolled ankle, a few cuts on her face and legs as well as a busted lip. She could taste the copper in her mouth as she licked her dry lips. All in all, the acolytes looked tired and defeated but in their eyes there was a spark, a flame was ignited within them and it showed in their eyes. Their eyes were alive. They were sparkling in the sunlight and had a sense of newfound strength in them. Whatever happened in Ajunta Pall's tomb taxed them physically, but mentally and spiritually Thaelys and Shiria burned with a passion that was only newly awakened. Small smiles graced their face, and if it wasn't for the blood and sweat on them, Shiria seemed to be an entirely different person and Thaelys actually looked carefree and happy.

Slowly but surely, the girls made their way towards the medical droid stationed outside the Academy, and arm wound around the other, supporting each other upright. The soldiers Thaelys helped earlier in the day caught eye of the two girls blood-soaked and injury and came running to their aid immediately. They separated the girls and became their living crutches as they made their way to the medical droid, much faster this time. When she neared the droids, Thaelys plopped on the floor ungracefully and rested her weight on her hands. Shiria sat next to her in a sophisticated manner and shared a look with her newfound ally. It was the look of trust, admiration and shared memories, which led to borderline hysterical laughter from the girls. Whilst Shiria laughed loudly and gleefully, Thaelys chuckled quietly. The only thing that stopped them from laughing hysterically was the fact that there were other people watching them. They calmed down when the droid began working on Shiria's stomach wound. As the droid disinfected it, which produced hisses of pain from Shiria, Thaelys used the knife she borrowed from the soldiers who helped her to cut square in her pants. In all her running and fighting, her previously healed thigh wound reopened slightly and was gushing out blood. Despite not being deep or too long, enough blood poured out to stain her left pant entirely. It was obvious to her what happened. The artery in her thigh, the femoral artery, didn't heal properly or was thinly healed, tore open along with the stitches and was now bleeding profusely. If she didn't stop the blood flow, she would be dead in about 6 minutes now. She was grateful that it reopened when she was right next to the tomb exit.

Thaelys took off her belt and wrapped a bit above the thigh wound. This would act as a tourniquet. Using her hands, she applied as much pressure as she could on the wound and waited. Her blood was already thickening and she had the experiments to thank for that. Her wound would heal much quicker than others and her blood would clot faster than normal. If she concentrated hard enough, she could stop the bleeding of minor arteries within seconds, this however wasn't a minor artery and if she were a normal person, she would've already been dead. She had an extra 7 minutes compared to the usual 8 minutes and she already wasted 13. She had 2 minutes left to stop the bleeding or she would've bled out and died. A small wave of panic ran through her as she felt the blood thin between her fingers. She pushed whatever concerns and worries out of her head when the Sergeant from before injected her with a shot of kolto. She immediately felt the cold liquid rush through her body, both cooling her down and agitating her; it wasn't a pleasant feeling. Within seconds she felt the blood under her hand thicken and she removed her hand. The bleeding had mostly stopped with 57 seconds left on her clock. The open wound was about the size of her index finger and it was caked in blood and so was everything surrounding it.

Thaelys was pale, deathly pale, but alive. She fell onto her back in exhaustion and felt a cold rag touching her wound. She didn't have to look up to know it was the Ensign from before cleaning her wound, she could feel his presence through the force. His touch was gentle and careful as if he was scared that he'd hurt her if he put too much pressure on her leg. His left hand supported her leg up and his right cleaned the wound with smooth strokes and circles. It was relaxing. Shiria must've had all her wounds healed because she lifted Thaelys head and upper body and rested Thaelys upper body on her lap. Shiria's fingers threaded through Thaelys hair and further soothed her. The Twi'lek stopped threading her fingers through Thaelys hair in favour of cleaning the blood her Thaelys hands. Using a damp rag, Shiria scrubbed the blood of Thaelys hand's as the Ensign put a bacta patch on her leg. The medical droid gave Thaelys 3 pints of blood, put a kolto salve on her busted lip and wrapped her ankle in a polyester, plastic cast.

"I recommend not moving for 3 days." The droid informed Thaelys in its mechanical, computerized voice. The advice however fell on deaf ears and Thaelys stood up immediately and tested putting weight on her left leg. Satisfied that she could walk around without reopening her wound or falling over, Thaelys gave a quick thank you to the soldiers and went off walking towards the Academy. Shiria gave a smirk in thanks to the soldiers and followed Thaelys to the Academy, walking besides her, exchanging her unwanted but amusing commentary.

"Well, if I didn't think the Emperor was pompous, I do now. How many statues dedicated to him does there need to be? It's not like he created the Sith, he hasn't even shown his face in years. I want to have statues like that, preferably replacing all the statues of him. Besides, I would look much better than the Emperor."

"If you are so desperate to replace all the statue, please file a compliant to the Emperor, I wish to see his reaction when you say he's too ugly to have statues."

"I just might." And that was the end of their conversation as they entered the main room of the Academy. Other Sith acolytes rushed around trying to complete their trials and Overseers stood around, meditating on the darkside with students or assigning tasks to others. It was a hectic mess of black, red and grays. Thaelys ignored the large monument drenched in the darkside that stood at the centre of the room and went off to find her Overseer. Shiria just stood in front of the monument looking bewildered and bored. Only she could pull that off.

Thaelys walked down the left hallway and to the very end where to Imperial Royal Guards stood unmoving. Despite having their faces covered by a helmet, Thaelys could feel their gaze follow her, leaving an unsavory feeling shivering down her back. As she walked towards her Overseers office, the hairs on the back of her neck stood on their end and she knew that she wasn't alone. Emerging from the shadows, two figures walked towards her, both clearly male. One was bald and had a tattoo above his eye. He was tall and brawny but it was obvious he lacked intelligence. Thaelys immediately made a mental list about all his attributes. Right handed, single training sword, preferred using both hands when handling a sword, didn't like putting weight on his left leg, minor agility, strong, height advantage. Not a threat. The other male was what worried Thaelys. He wasn't as tall as his accomplice but was still a head taller than Thaelys. He had bright red hair and an X shaped scar on his face. He was reasonably muscular and was clearly the smarter one out of the two.

'Agile, decent strength, left-handed - that's a problem, uses both hands when handling a sword, well-balanced stance, clear intelligence. This is my threat.'

"Hey there, acolyte. Hold on a moment. Let me get a look at you." The man with the X shaped scar ran his eyes up and down Thaelys body, no doubt taking in the mess she was. Her hair was darkened by blood and knotted, her pants were drenched in blood with a missing patch replaced by bacta and her lip was healing. He either viewed her to be a survivor or a weakling.

"So you're Overseer Tremel's new weapon, huh? Impressive, to be sure." Thaelys could sense the heavy sarcasm beneath his tone. "Afraid the old man waited too long to make his move, though. I'm Vemrin, and unlike you I've fought and bleed for everything I have. I demand respect."

"And people on Tatooine want rain. Make another comment implying that I lack honour and I will end you."

"Believe it or not, I'm trying to keep you from getting killed. If Overseer Tremel had made his move a year ago, when I first arrived, you might've had a chance. But not now – too little, too late."

Vemrin's larger counterpart decided that it was a good time to speak up. His lack of intelligence was clear the moment he said a word.

"This is ridiculous, Vemrin. Let's just kill her and hide the body." Eyebrows were raised in a condescending manner by the other two. Thaelys was also surprised at how high pitched his voice was, he sounded feminine, which only added to his dim-witted appearance.

"We're not on Balmorra anymore, Dolgis." Thaelys suppressed a laugh that almost erupted from her throat when she heard the brute's name but she did let a tiny smirk show. "There are rules. Traditions. We'll leave the shortcuts to Overseer Tremel and his last pathetic hope here." Her former smirk was now replaced with a frown and Thaelys eyes burned holes into Vemrin's skull.

Despite wanting to force-feed him his own eyes, Thaelys gave a sultry grin to Vemrin and spoke to him in a husky voice,

"There are more… enjoyable things to do than make crude comments about me. I can think of a few things we can do together in our free time." Thaelys approached him while saying her piece and looked into his eyes. She saw lust fill them before they were replaced with rage and hatred.

"You have no idea the enemy you're making. Are you coming, Dolgis?" Vemrin stormed off behind her. What better way to unbalance your opponent than to make him want you?

"Listen to me, you useless priss. Acolytes aren't allowed to murder each other. But accidents happen. It isn't murder without witnesses. No more warnings. Vemrin's the alpha monster here. You go after Vemrin, you die."

"How intimidating. If you're done being a lapdog, I'm free for the rest of the day, we could have some fun." Thaelys walked off and left Dolgis behind her, his mouth open from shock as he failed to produce actual words. Thaelys laughter could be heard throughout the hallway and she entered the Overseer's office.

Inside of Tremel's office stood a dark-skinned girl with a striking resemblance to the Overseer. It was safe to assume that she was the daughter of Tremel. She wasn't anything amazing to look at with dark hair and eyes and three long scars marring her face.

"Good, you've returned. You seem to be in one piece. Tell me, how do you like your new blade?" Thaelys fingers stroked the end of her warblade as she answered the Overseer.

"It will suffice."

"What're you doing, Father? I've only just got my warblade and I've been here six months" The Overseer's daughter looked furious, most likely feeling like a second hand acolyte.

"I have my reasons, Eskella. And you will not breathe a word to this to anyone. Do you hear?" Thaelys frowned when she heard the girl's name. The name 'Eskella' sounded like a horrible name, to Thaelys at least. Then again, according to these people, 'Thaelys' would sound like a strange name as well. In her mother's tongue, 'Thaelys' meant either strong-spirited or silent stick, depending on whether you spoke the High or Bastard version of the language.

"Yes. Yes, Father."

"Acolyte Thaelys, this is Eskella, my daughter. She's one of the advanced students here. On her way to becoming Sith. If she minds herself." Thaelys was unimpressed. Eskella may have been an advanced student but she was clearly a weak fighter. She had excess weight on her and lacked muscles. She was neither strong nor quick on her feet. Thaelys used this information to deduce that Eskella used Shii-Cho as her main form.

"I'll keep quit about your new charge, Father. But I won't be there if whatever you're planning blows up in your face." And with that comment, Eskella left Tremel's office and Thaelys was left alone with her Master.

"Don't mind her. She's just sore that I'm keeping secrets. She growls but she's loyal. Now, I thought I heard Vemrin's voice in the adjacent chamber before you arrived. Did he make his move so soon?"

'Yes he did and I am more than ready to murder him in his sleep. Maybe I can chop off his limbs or decapitate him. Maybe poison is more humane. Better yet, I can put explosives in his room and watch him blow his annoying face off.'

"Yeah, I hate him already," 'That's one way to put it', "I look forward to ending his miserable existence.'

"If things go well, you will have that satisfaction someday." 'Hopefully tonight'

"Still, I'd hoped we'd have more time. Vemrin's not the type to sniff around for too long before trying to take a bite." 'What kind of bullshit euphemisms does this Overseer use? Like holy shit, just say that Vemrin doesn't wait long before trying to kill someone, saves you a lot of words. Moron'

"In a drive for sheer numbers, the criteria for Academy admittance has been relaxed. Now anyone with Force sensitivity is allowed entrance. Vemrin is mixed blood. The invisible rot eating at the foundation of the Empire. He must not be allowed to advance."

"So you're an elitist snob."

"You say that like it is a bad thing." 'Because it is. I swear to the Gods that you are an asswipe'

"Unfortunately, Vemrin's caught the eye of Darth Baras, one of the most influential Sith Lords. He is being groomed to be Baras's new apprentice. As Darth Baras's apprentice, the power at Vemrin's fingertips will be considerable. He could change the Sith for the worst.

You must proceed to your next trial immediately. I want you to interrogate three prisoners in the Academy jails and decide their fates. Consider each criminal's story carefully. The decision you make will be scrutinized, so let your passions guide your judgment."

Thaelys didn't think letting her passions guide her judgment was a good idea. It would be useful for the actual interrogation but using it to decide the criminal's fate was wrong . It would lead her into making decisions based on her sympathy for them, depending on their case. No, she will approach each prisoner with a critical edge and then decide his or her fate. She can't go wrong that way, can she?

"As you say, Overseer." Thaelys bent down from her waist in a respectful bow but she could feel the Overseer's irritation emit from him when she called him "Overseer" not "Master". Thaelys had no Master, only trainers or guides. She wouldn't give herself to someone else to control. She vowed it. She'd rather kill herself or bleed relentlessly than have someone command her about. Little did she know, in the near future, she would bleed because of being in someone else's control, and it would be her who causes the bleeding.


End file.
